POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[Beth Pavell]

It's fine for fanfic, or even fanon. What gets on my nerves is when the fanon starts to creep into the "canon", and you see that a lot on TV Tropes in relation to Arceus, for example.

That being said, I'm struggling to recall when I last read a story that did anything with a "Poké God" (Arceus or otherwise) beyond having them kick off a Chosen One plot. Best I can recall would be Athena's last story, Vaira, where at least the protagonists actually seemed to believe in something.

 

[AceTrainer14]

It is early in the story, but Love and Other Nightmares has more of a focus on Kyurem than other 'Chosen One' fics.

I went to list a few other stories, but ran into the issue of whether you simply mean legendaries or legendaries that are held in god-like positions within the fictional society. The main issue with putting Arceus or other legendaries into the position of god/s is then building an appropriate relationship between the Pokemon and the society. It is definitely a lot more than simply saying 'Oh my Arceus' or viewing them as unique Pokemon.

 

[diamondpearl876]

Considering there were gods once upon a time associated with things we don't think twice about anymore in terms of religion (like wheat or vegetation), it is not really far-fetched to think of the legendaries as gods of things like weather. Even if other pokemon like Castform can also control the weather, fanfics can explore why the hierarchy is like this. Hell, even Castform could be considered a god, maybe - there were also several gods that represented the same concepts, and pokemon embody quite a lot of traits that gods long ago had. Seriously, anything goes if it's conveyed compellingly.

I agree there's not much about any of religion explored in fics very often, but what bugs me more is the comparison to real life religion. I really don't care what god in real life Gamefreak thought of when making Arceus. Comparing only serves to limit creativity rather than help it due to the weight that people place on religion as a whole.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Adding to what @diamondpearl876 said...

These Pokémon are cherished in the Alola region, where they are thought to be feminine deities of the land incarnate.

Possessing a calm demeanor, this Pokémon was revered as a deity incarnate before it was identified as a regional variant of Ninetales.

If you believe in the interpretation that humans and Pokémon didn't always live in the same world, then of course people would revere the local wildlife if they had strange powers.

 

[diamondpearl876]

We've also had discussions here about how pokedex entries generally shouldn't be taken seriously just because some are really outlandish (lol @ some ghost-types stealing child spirits and then children are allowed to catch ghost-types anyway), but entries like the ones you quoted could really add some depth to a fic's worldbuilding if it's relevant.

 

[CrystaI]

Cherish wildlife and even revere then as something holy is not anything new at all. We still have this kind of thing even in Real-Life. E.g. Cow and cattle in Middle-East.

One have to understand, their religious view is not the same as our Real-Life, especially not the same as Christian. To be fair even in Real-Life we have many different religions. It really limited the fictional world-building if one insisted in viewing the Pokemon World from Christian's POV. And it also bugs me that people keep on discussing the Pokemon religion without considering the variety and differences in Real-Life religions.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I just find the idea of everyone in the Pokémon world worshiping All The Legendaries™ boring. One of my biggest problems with Super Mystery Dungeon is how it treats legendaries in the same way that the average fanfiction does. You can't exactly call someone Mythical™ when you see them on a daily basis.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

I just find the idea of everyone in the Pokémon world worshiping All The Legendaries™ boring. One of my biggest problems with Super Mystery Dungeon is how it treats legendaries in the same way that the average fanfiction does. You can't exactly call someone Mythical™ when you see them on a daily basis.

Well, that might as well be, because Super Mystery Dungeon itself basically comes off to me like a fan-game made with the ripped models from Pokédex 3D Pro.

Not that I didn't buy it anyway of course.

 

[Lyrebird]

Talking Legendaries.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Talking Legendaries.

I'm now remembering A New World, a New Way (again), where literally every legendary is telepathic, because potatoes.

I also don't like the phrase "oh my Arceus" for the same reason I don't like a lot of hippogriffisms: it just doesn't sound natural. Sometimes it doesn't make sense for a word to be replaced, sometimes they sound needlessly exclusive ("Xpony" phrases in general, especially when used to refer to non-ponies in Friendship is Magic), and sometimes I have no idea what the original phrase is supposed to be ("You look like two Stingrays fighting over a grape.").

 

[Lyrebird]

I just use oh my god. No one really associates it with religion anyway.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

How did I forget this one? Humans Are The Real Monsters, and Pokémon are implied to be inherently morally higher than other life forms.

 

[Serverus Snope]

How did I forget this one? Humans Are The Real Monsters, and Pokémon are implied to be inherently morally higher than other life forms.

Just how widespread is that ideology in fanfic, anyway?

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Just how widespread is that ideology in fanfic, anyway?

I've complained about this fanfic a lot on this thread, but it's basically the premise behind A New World, a New Way. I can't think of any other specific examples right now...

 

[VeniaSilente]

Oh my Arceus

If Arceus was actually revered or worshipped like that I could see some sense in it, but in what little it cares, franchise religion is shown as pantheonism (if that's the best word, as pantheism doesn't fit) at best. And even longstanding fics don't tend to get into the subject of religion, at least as an aspect of multicultures.

Then again, probably wouldn't have much of a problem with "Oh my Arceus!" if it was done with style. Also, because pantheons, "Oh Ho-Oh!" would sound just so funnily weird. And out of place most of the year. But as Lyrebird says, "Oh my god" just works okay, it's not a calling to "the god" in context.

 

[CrystaI]

If "Oh my god(Arceus)!" is creating such a problem, why use it anyway? It is not like there doesn't exist other sentence to replace this expression in a similar sense but without addressing to any religious figure. Such as simply "Oh my!" without the god(Arceus), or "Wow!", or a bit of swearing "Oh my fucking mother!"

I'm not native English speaker, so I don't quite understand what's the big deal behind such shouting about "god" when no one mean it literally it is that Christian "God" in any sense. I can also use the same logic for the case of Arceus.

One good thing about Japanese language is that, they don't use any religious figure in their swearing. That makes writing fantasy fiction with its own internal culture easier if done in Japanese than in English.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I'm now remembering Wings of Fire, where everyone swears to the three moons, because... they might explain it later? I'm near the end of book three.

 

[Drakon]

How did I forget this one? Humans Are The Real Monsters, and Pokémon are implied to be inherently morally higher than other life forms.

Yeah, that's something I already mentioned multiple times already. Even worse is that people often pair it with something equally distasteful like "science/technology is bad".

Just how widespread is that ideology in fanfic, anyway?

It's extremely popular in pokémorph or anthro-pokémon stories and pokémon revolution stories (most infamously in the eponymous Pokémon Revolution by Farla).

Seriously, I think Poké Wars is one of the only pokémon revolution stories that avoids that ideology.

 

[Stratelier]

it's extremely popular in pokémorph or anthro-pokémon stories and pokémon revolution stories (most infamously in the eponymous Pokémon Revolution by Farla).

Makes me glad that in last year's Nanowrimo (which was Pokemon Mystery Dungeon themed) I established very quickly (in the prologue, even) that mine is a world where Pokemon do routinely prey on other Pokemon. Unfortunately, I haven't worked out all the specifics, but it's basically if you don't want to be eaten you had better start talking, running, or fighting.

 

[AceTrainer14]

When discussing cliches, let's try not to name and criticise specific stories when doing so - especially ones that have not been posted here